Baby's First Workout

Contrary to the title, this is not an exercise or aerobics class for babies (thank goodness!). On the contrary, it is a carefully constructed program of play developed by Patti Gerard Hannan (a former world-class gymnast, and advisor to NASA on the dynamics of movement) which encourages parents to monitor the development of their child's motor skills. Divided into four sections (color coded on the video), the program covers some 38 activities evenly spaced over the first year of a baby's life. The simple play movements are designed to foster the development of balance, visual tracking, depth perception, and various other motor skills such as grasping and crawling. Based on the author's book Teaching Your Child Basic Body Confidence, each creative play exercise is demonstrated by the author along with a baby, using close-up and slow-motion camerawork to pinpoint the specific behavior that parents should be looking for. This is an excellent tape that will be as beneficial to parents in understanding the basics of human growth, as well as babies who may achieve basic skills a little earlier than usual. Highly recommended. (Available from most distributors.)